My Country, 'Tis of Thee
by CriticalZero
Summary: Arthur finds himself spending his least favorite day of the year, the Fourth of July, in America. And to top it off, he's alone. USxUK Rated T for slight language.


**Author's Note: Alright, so this was intended to be published sometime around the Fourth of July, but life kind of got in the way. Anyway, it's my first story and I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. Enjoy!**

It hurt him so much. Even when he was just walking down the old streets of his former colony an overwhelming sadness threatened to drown him. Each step he took was harder than the last and his heart felt so very heavy. Every building passed was replaced in his mind it with the structure that had been there when America was still _his._ So much had changed since then and Arthur was painfully aware of all of it.

There was a time when Arthur could walk down these same roads and feel proud of all the progress that America was making. At that time Arthur felt happy to see new buildings rising up from the ground but that sensation wall long since gone. The structures that stood in place of the old were cold and foreign to him because they were very distinctly _America's ._None of them resembled the architecture that was present in England. America had grown and matured to the point where he was able to create his own style and culture to replace those given to him by England. And that was one of the things that hurt the most, how little influence of England was left on America.

There were remnants of course, the language for example. But nowadays even that seemed strangely unfamiliar to Arthur. The accent, the British accent that he and Alfred used to share was long lost to the new American accent. Speech patterns were far less formal here and even spellings of words had been changed, something Arthur could never grasp the concept of. There was no necessity to change the spellings other than to be different from him, England, and make the distance of the Atlantic Ocean separating them seem all that much larger of a distance.

Normally, Arthur wouldn't dwell on these things because he was all too aware to how they made him feel, but today was different. He had been passing smiling faces, excited children and America's flags all day. It was the highly celebrated day that Arthur couldn't bring himself to celebrate. It was Alfred's day of victory, not his. It was the Fourth of July.

No matter how hard he tried or how much he wanted to be _happy _for Alfred, he couldn't bring himself to do it. He knew he shouldn't still be dwelling on this day, it happened over two hundred years ago, but he simply couldn't help it. He was proud of Alfred for coming this far and becoming such a powerful country, but he just couldn't bring himself to understand why he had to push him away so adamantly to do so.

He had tried many times to numb the pain he felt for losing America, but no matter how hard he struggled, the pain always came back with vengeance. Arthur knew the reason Alfred had left him was because of the way he treated him and Arthur hated himself for it. Looking back he knew he should've done things differently. He knew some of the laws he imposed on him were a bit harsh and a little unfair, but he was backed into a corner. He _had _to make those laws that would haunt him even centuries after they ceased to exist. He didn't have a choice.

Arthur had been lost in his own thoughts for so long that when he finally came back to reality he was surprised to see that it was already dark and well past nightfall. He was now off of the roads he was somewhat familiar with and was on a path in a local park with only darkness and trees to keep him company. It felt nice to not be the only unhappy face in a sea of cheerful ones but it also hurt that he was now as alone as he felt.

A loud boom echoed through the silence and startled Arthur. His eyes were drawn skyward only to be met by bright explosions of red, white and blue. Immediately after a chorus of cheers and applause followed as more fireworks were sent off into the night.

Arthur stood frozen for a few minutes processing what had just happened. Rage swelled within him and he couldn't keep his composure any more. All of this pain he was feeling was completely his own doing and he knew that, but why did America have to keep rubbing it in? Why did he have to have all the reminders of the mistakes he made shoved into his face? Why couldn't Alfred understand that Arthur would give _anything_ to be able to go back and correct those mistakes?

Arthur balled his hands into fists and ran down the path. He wanted to get away from those damned fireworks and anything that reminded him of Alfred. However impossible it might be, especially on the fourth of July, he had to try. If he had to keep enduring this for much longer…he didn't know what he'd do. Or rather, he didn't want to think about it.

Hot tears were running down his face as he came to a stop. Whether it was from exhaustion or from the anger that had been coming to the surface it was becoming very difficult to breathe. It felt like his chest wouldn't expand anymore to let in the air. He slumped down against a tree, hitting it with the side of his fist using all his strength. He coughed a few times trying to get the air into his lungs before the tears turned into sobs and he abandoned any hope of calming down. He brought his legs up near his chest and coupled his head in his hands.

Only one thought played again and again in his mind and that was, why? Why did Alfred have to be so cruel? And how could Arthur have let himself be so stupid? Arthur had to pay off the war debts and his boss made it very clear that they should get the money from America since it was him they were protecting, but Arthur should've done something. He should've stuck up for Alfred. He knew it was unfair to put so much of the burden on America. He _knew _but he did it anyway.

It was then that a bottle of rum started to sound like the best way to resolve his problems. Arthur didn't know how to fix them, but he could forget. Even the hangover that would inevitably come the next day started to sound like a blessing because at least then his mind wouldn't be focused on the emotional pain, but rather a splitting headache.

It was then that a familiar set of footsteps reached his ears. He quickly tried to dry his eyes and rub away the stray tears that were still flowing. As the footsteps drew nearer he heard another sound with them, humming. Arthur immediately recognized the tune and felt a new wave of anger come over him.

Arthur made no attempt to hide the venom in his voice when he said, "Now you've come to insult me _personally_?"

The footsteps stopped a couple of feet away from Arthur. "What do you mean?"

Arthur looked up to meet his gaze. "Oh don't play dumb Alfred! You're humming that damned song of yours, 'My Country, 'Tis of Thee'". Arthur looked away, too disgusted to keep his gaze on him. "I swear, every last bloody person stole that melody from me!"

"I wasn't humming that."

Arthur returned his sights to Alfred, "Now you're going to _lie_ to me? You were humming-"

"I was humming 'God Save the Queen'"

Arthur looked at him utterly dumbfounded, "What?"

Alfred took his time in responding to Arthur's confusion. His gaze no longer remained constant on Arthur as he struggled to find the words to explain himself. "Arthur…have you ever considered why I became independent?"

That stung. Arthur had spent too much time considering that question and absolutely every answer he could come up with led back to himself as being the one at fault. It took a while before he could finally bring himself to mutter, "W-well, the taxes and-"

"Yeah, that was part of it." Alfred sighed before he continued, "I became independent because I wanted to be your equal. I remember when I was a kid; I always looked up to you. I thought you were amazing and I wanted to be just like you, but I couldn't do that as a colony. I _had_ to become independent. I wanted to be your equal." A smile crossed his face as he added, "I never wanted to get rid of you."

"Never?"

"Never."

Arthur could feel a new wave of tears slowly start to stream down his face. Those words lifted such an incredible weight off of him that he couldn't keep the tears inside. Arthur never once _dreamed_ that he'd hear words like that from Alfred. That meant that he'd been forgiven, that the mistakes of the past could finally be left in the past.

He felt Alfred's warm arm wrap around his shoulders and they sat in silence a long while. The fireworks started up again but now, Arthur didn't feel any pain when he watched them.

As the grand finale neared, he felt Alfred laugh beside him. "You know, it took me a long time to find you. I figured you would've been drunk in a bar by now; I'd almost given up looking for you when I heard you sobbing _all alone_ over here." One of his famous smiles that Arthur loved was plastered onto his face.

"Shut up, stupid git."


End file.
